Early Winter Warning for Boaters
Transport Canada Warns the Boating Public to Beware of Cold Water
Oct 24, 2008
Cold water represents a safety risk to northerners and Transport Canada is seeking to make boaters more aware of the dangers posed by cold water immersion. Working with the Canadian Safe Boating Council, Transport Canada has embarked on a new initiative known as the Cold Water Boot Camp. This effort is aimed at educating boaters about the deadly impacts of cold water and provides hints on how to mitigate some of the risks.
Cold Water Boot Camp is being funded in part from the Government of Canada Search and Rescue New Initiatives Fund managed by the country's Search and Rescue Secretariat. In announcing the new program, Minister of Transport, Infrastructure and Communities, the Honourable Lawrence Cannon says, "The Government of Canada is concerned with the average of 149 people who die every year due to cold water immersion. This new initiative is providing Canadians with an education program to inform, motivate and change their behaviour, and to increase the survival of boaters when navigating in cold water."
Preventing or Reducing the Risk of Cold Water Immersion
Safety experts agree that the best way to prevent inadvertent cold water immersion is to eliminate or reduce falls overboard and boat capsizes. Research conducted by the United States Centers for Disease Control show these factors to be major causes of death among commercial fishermen operating in cold waters.
The next best line of defense for a boater is to constantly wear a life jacket while on the water.
In announcing the Cold Water Boot Camp initiative, Director of the Canadian Safe Boating Council Ted Rankine says of life jackets, "People mistakenly think if they can swim, they don't need a lifejacket. But when water is cold, sudden immersion can cause cold shock, involuntary gasping and deep hyperventilation. This is followed by cold incapacitation and in a short time, as the muscles and nerves in the limbs get cold, a person will lose the ability to self rescue or even swim. Far too many people die within swimming distance of safety, such as a boat, dock or the shore, because of the initial effects of cold water immersion."
Since water drains heat away from the human at a rate twenty-five times faster than the air, safety officials stress the need for boaters to wear thermal protective clothing. There are several manufactures like Mustang Survival that produce one-piece thermal coveralls that are also approved as life jackets. Wearing this type of suit keeps a boater warm en route and buys time for a rescue if there is an accident.
Additional Cold Water Boating Information
Cold Water Boot Camp provides boaters with additional safety information that can improve the odds of surviving contact with cold water while boating. Topics include learning positions to hold in the water that reduce heat loss, identifying and treating hypothermia, demonstrations, and safe boating practices.
Boaters should be aware that the dangers of exposure to cold water issues are not only a risk in the north, but effect boating activities found much further south. Cold waters are found were the monthly mean low water temperature is normally 59ºF/15ºC or colder. In the winter, these regions can easily be found extending into southern Oregon and northern California.
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